Albania has abundant rainfall (722-2747 mm/year), but mostly
concentrated in the rainy season (October - April). During the dry summers,
water levels are often at a critical low. During the past 50 years, rainwater
catchment has been used to irrigate 50 - 60 % of the land, but little has been
done to supply clean, safe drinking water for the people. Among the 2800
villages only 450 (16%) have aqueducts. During the summer only 5-10 liters of
water per capita /day are available in some villages. Since the current
government seems to be unable to supply the rural population with access to safe
drinking water, the NGO Rain & Rural Family was founded in 1997 to study
the possibilities of promoting roof rainwater catchment. The study states that
each house with a roof of 50-100 m2 could collect enough water to
provide 6 people with an average water supply of 60- 130 liters for 90 days.
The cost to built a reinforced concrete cistern would come to 590.000 leke (
about US$ 3,000). Rain and Rural Family aims to : 1) popularize the concept of
rainwater harvesting, 2) inform the public about the tradition of rainwater
collecting and 3) to establish rainwater collection as a national priority.